Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  I 
July,  1883.  j 
Gleanings  in  Materia  Medica, 
367 
gleajSings  in  materia  medica. 
By  the  Editor. 
Coloring  of  Cinchona  harh  with  ammonia, — Thomas  and  Guignard 
noticed  a  cinchona  bark,  the  liber  fibres  of  which  were  of  a  pale  yellow 
color,  while  the  porous  tissue  was  of  a  deep  red,  and  which  yielded 
infusions  considerably  more  tinged  than  the  infnsion  of  good  cinchona 
bark.  The  decoctions  of  both  barks  filtered  when  cold,  yielded  with 
Nessler's  reagent  precipitates,  which  were  white  from  normal  cinchona 
bark,  and  brown  red  from  the  suspected  bark.  On  treating  the  two 
barks  with  diluted  hydrochloric  acid,  decolorizing  with  animal  char- 
coal, precipitating  with  platinic  chloride  and  igniting  the  precipitates, 
that  obtained  from  normal  bark  yielded  '174  gm.  platinum  from  1  gm. 
of  the  precipitate,  while  the  one  obtained  from  the  sus]:)ected  bark 
yielded  '220  gm.  Pt.  The  chloroplatinate  of  cinchonine  and  isomers 
gives  "178  gm.,  that  of  quinine  and  isomers  '168  gm.,  but  the  chloro- 
platinate of  ammonium  '441  gm.  of  platinum ;  the  above  results,  there- 
fore, prove  the  presence  of  ammonia.  A  yellow  or  pale  cinchona  bark 
may  be  colored  red  by  treatment  with  ammonia,  the  tannin  being  con- 
verted into  cinchonic  red. — Rep.  de  Phar.,  1882,  p.  337. 
Cinchona  succir libra  trees  in  Ceylon  that  have  been  "  shaved,"  are 
infested  by  a  beetle  which  has  been  identified  as  the  male  of  a  species 
of  Z/ucanus,  greatly  resembling  the  common  European  stag  beetle. 
The  insect  appears  to  pierce  the  new  bark  and  feed  upon  the  resinous 
juice  which  exudes  through  the  wound. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans., 
March  31,  1883.    Trop.  Agriculturist. 
The  digitalin-group. — The  compounds  having  an  action  similar  to 
that  of  digitalin  are  arranged  by  Schmiedeberg  thus : 
I.  Crystalline  glucosides :  1.  Digitalin,  very  sparingly  soluble  in 
water ;  from  the  leaves  and  fruit  of  Digitalis  purpurea.  2.  Antiarin, 
very  sparingly  soluble  in  water ;  from  upas  antiar,  the  milkjuice  of 
Antiaris  toxicaria.  3.  Helleborein,  freely  soluble  in  water ;  from  the 
root  of  Helleborus  niger,  viridis,  and  foetidus.  4.  Enonymin,  spar- 
ingly soluble  in  water ;  from  Euonymus  atropurpureus.  5.  Thevetin, 
soluble  in  124  parts  of  water;  from  the  seeds  of  Thevetia  nereifolia 
and  Cerbera  Odallam. 
II.  Not  glucosides,  in  part  crystalline :  6.  Digitoxin,  quite  insolu- 
ble in  water ;  from  the  leaves  of  Digitalis  purpurea.  7.  Strophantin, 
soluble  in  water ;  in  the  Kombe  arrow  poison  of  West  Africa,  from 
